Hair
by B00k Freak
Summary: Prompt: "You can touch my hair but don't mess it up!"


Ever since she had gone through terrigenesis Daisy's response to most drugs had changed. Her response changing wasn't the problem, they all knew that Jemma could cope with that. The issue was that her response to the exact same medication could vary from day to day. They had tried to figure it out but the best Jemma could come up with was that her powers broke down medications differently depending on what vibrations she was absorbing or producing. Annoying considering it made Daisy's reactions to medication impossible to predict.

Which was why May sat on one side of Daisy's bed in the medical bay, watching her.

"You don't have to stay you know." A deep voice said from the other side of the bed. May didn't look away from Daisy's sleeping form. "I'll stay with her."

May shook her head. "You rest. I'll stay."

Mack sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm not gonna sleep while she's looking like this." He admitted. "I wanna stay."

May shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Neither spoke more after that, instead sitting in silence and watching Daisy, keeping an eye out for any unexpected side-effects. She was okay really. Her dislocated shoulder had already been reset and she had some bruised ribs. Still, morphine was better than the pain, and it helped her sleep.

It was admirable that Mack would choose to stay with Daisy too. May knew that Daisy loved him and that he had a soft spot for her, but that he'd stay just to make sure she didn't have a bad reaction to some pain meds was something else.

Mack wasn't surprised that May would stay like this. He knew how much she loved her team, even if she never really said so. He knew that Daisy looked up to her much like a kid looked up to their mom and was more than a little attached, but he could never tell if May simply endured Daisy's affection or if she actually enjoyed it. They were a family, their team, and Mack knew that Daisy craved the kind of bonds they had more than anyone. She might have never had a woman she looked up to before May.

They both looked up when Daisy started to squirm under the sheets, groggily waving at the dim light on the ceiling. "Go 'way Jemma." She muttered. "M'fine."

Mack smiled at her whining but was unsurprised to see May as stone-faced as ever. "Jemma's not here Daisy." He said, "Just us."

Daisy blinked her eyes open, first catching sight of Mack. "Maaack." She said in a drowsy voice. "Yay." He grinned at her tone. Mack knew that she wasn't being sarcastic, but with her voice so flat it definitely sounded that way.

Daisy's head lolled the other way and she smiled. "May too." She murmured. "May and Mack. Mmmmm." Mack chuckled. Daisy was pretty damn cute like this.

Daisy continued to look at May for a long moment before extending her arms. Mack noticed her forcibly looking at the wall until Daisy whined. "I'm on drugs, that means I get a hug."

May sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine." She grumbled, shuffling over to the bed and kicking off her boots to sit beside Daisy, who grinned and immediately cuddled up to her, leaning her head against May's side.

Mack watched them, Daisy's unabashed affection and May's begrudging allowance. May was certainly giving off the _impression_ of not liking this.

Yet after barely a minute of sitting in that position, Daisy snuggled up to her contentedly, that displeased mask slid off completely. Her hand began to gently stroke Daisy's hair, causing the sound of gentle purring to fill the air and Daisy's eyes to flicker shut.

May cocked her head, carefully watching Daisy's face. Mack couldn't tell if she wanted to know if she was asleep and she could escape or something else entirely, but that look felt familiar.

Her eyes suddenly flickered up to meet his, the connection between them palpable for the barest moment, raw and uncertain, neither sure if they had done something wrong. Mack knew that he probably shouldn't have been staring, but he could also see the barest hint of a flush climbing May's neck. She was embarrassed. That was why she grumbled and complained.

Mack looked away, forcing back a smile. He never would have picked May for being so touchy feely, not to mention being so defensive about it, but it fit. It made sense now. She was just as attached to Daisy as Daisy was to May, she just liked to hide it in front of the others. With a jolt Mack realised why the way she had been looking at Daisy was so familiar to him. What it felt like.

It felt like how he had looked at Hope.

Just the memory brought a torrent of conflicting emotions, remembering the daughter he had lost. Nothing could bring her back. It was nice to see with May and Daisy though. Daisy had lost her family, but now by some twist of fate, she had a new one. She had someone like May, who would do anything for her. That thought put a smile on his face.

Mack had just started to think that Daisy had fallen asleep when she moved again. He looked up and saw that she was grabbing weakly at the ends of May's hair. "Can I play with your hair?"

The alarm on May's face made Mack swallow a laugh. "Not a chance in hell." She said, catching Daisy's wrist. "Not after what you did last time."

Oh, he really wanted to know what happened last time.

The whine that Daisy gave didn't sound put on. For whatever reason she was actually upset that May wouldn't let her play with her hair. "Please?"

May groaned. She didn't want to do this. Last time Daisy had braided her hair so tightly it had taken her half an hour to get it undone and had left her hair annoyingly wavy for days. Phil had liked it, but still. "Daisy..." She was going to beg. How pathetic was that? She knew how easily Daisy's puppy eyes made her give in, so she was stuck.

"You can touch my hair," Mack said, drawing Daisy's gaze. She looked like she was about to put on the water works. "But don't mess it up!"

May snorted quietly, forcing her smile back. The joke seemed to go entirely over Daisy's head, and she beamed. "Oh my gosh, yeah!" Daisy exclaimed, reaching for him.

Mack chuckled and approached to sit on Daisy's other side. He didn't want to make this too much of a joke at her expense, especially when she was hurt, but it was pretty damn funny. Daisy would probably laugh about it too after the drugs wore off.

May bit down on the inside of her lip to keep from smiling and closed her eyes so that she didn't have to watch Daisy's hands petting imaginary hair just above Mack's head. This was too much. This was why she hated being on pain meds herself. She had a history of embarrassing herself when she was high on morphine.

Mack shook with silent laughter as Daisy's hands skimmed his head. He kind of wanted a picture of this, if only to use it to tease her. She cooed over his imaginary hair like a child and it was pretty damn cute.

Daisy gasped. "Your hair's so _soft._ " She said in wonderment, causing Mack to grin wider.

A muffled sound caught Mack's ear and when he glanced towards May it was to see that she had mashed her palm over her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle her laughter, her fingers spread across her cheeks to hide her smile. Mack grinned and looked away. It was a little weird to see May laugh, but it was nice. And weirdly infectious, as she doubled over, letting out fits of what Mack would swear were giggles.

Not that he'd say that out loud. He didn't have a death wish.

Instead he laughed softly and let Daisy continue to coo over his 'hair'. "You can touch my hair whenever you want." He said.

Daisy gasped. "Thank you!" She exclaimed, getting a loud snort from May.

"It's probably good luck." May muttered.

Mack shook his head good-naturedly, "Oh yeah, sure. Rag on the guy who just saved your ass."

May grinned. "I'm sure your hair will recover."


End file.
